Rememberance
by Kanzen.Ari
Summary: Before Botan was an offical spirit guide a previous group of 'detectives' were there in place of Yusuke and the others. See how Botan's life was before Yusuke and the others and how she ended up a spirit guide. (bad sum sorry!)


Title: Remembrance  
  
Rating: PG, will go up  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing except any OOC characters.  
  
Author's Note: Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by to read my story. I hope it doesn't suck too horribly. :P Please leave a review and tell me what you think about it! By the way this is set up from Botan's POV looking back on things. Thanks again! *bows*  
  
*  
  
It seems liked a decade has passed since I had become a spirit guide for Lord Koenma. Time moving on around me as I stay the same, day in and day out. Watching people grow as I remain eternally young forever and it will always be this way. My name is Botan and I am the Grim Reaper, the Bringer of Death to the dying mortals as their souls take leave from their bodies. It's not the most cheerful of existences, but it is my duty, my responsibility and I will serve Lord Koenma until my sentence of repenting is completed; however long that may be.  
  
I was a young, ripe 16 the day that I died so reckless and lost in life. So of course, when offered the chance to live forever in the service of Lord Koenma I took it instantly. However I didn't fully realize what I had signed myself up for: an eternity of loneliness, solitude and death. I had agreed to a binding contract in which I couldn't escape. I would serve a near eternity helping the souls of the dead into the next realm in order to gain admittance into the heavenly realm myself. It was like a community service, only with a longer sentence.  
  
However sad my life has been, there have always been instances that have made me thankful for my second chance. There have always been people whose lives I've gotten to touch or who have touched my life and created an everlasting friendship which surpasses death and beyond. That right there is the tale I am going to tell you; my first brush with friendship in my existence as a spirit guide. It is something that I will never forget and that I will always cherish..  
  
*  
  
"Botan, it's time to get up dear." Said a gentle soprano floating through my room. "Botan, Lord Koenma wants to speak to us, get up please."  
  
The morning light pierced my closed eyelids making me mumble out a protest that night should end so quickly. Blinking my eyes open slowly I glanced around at my surroundings with the morning light filling in through the window and illuminating every corner of the room. Groggily I sat up and yawned lightly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Standing at the foot of my bed with a motherly smile gracing her lips was my sensei (teacher), Asami.  
  
Garbed in a beautiful blue kimono and lilac obi to match her hair I thought my sensei was the one of the closest thing to cherubic I had ever or would ever see. She had soft, porcelain doll features and flawless skin. Her amber eyes were soft and caring as was her gentle smile. Framing her face were a few wispy stands of silken lilac hair and the rest was pulled up elegant into a bun on the back of her head. She had taken me under her wing when I agreed to by the next spirit guide and she'd had the patience of a saint with me as well. She was always encouraging and helpful, sharing with me years of wisdom and practice. I was immediately fond of her upon our meeting, but back then I would never have admitted that.  
  
As I stretched and slid out of bed Asami informed that Lord Koenma had found us an assignment that needed our immediate attention and he was going to brief us on it this morning before we left for the ningenkai. I grumbled an ok and quickly dressed in my usual pink kimono and threw my hair up hastily. Asami smiled and gave a nod to me as we headed out of my room and down the hall to Lord Koenma's office. We didn't speak as we walked, instead we fell into the same silence we always did. My sensei and I weren't much alike back then; she was soft-spoken and gentle, always level- headed and respectful, I on the other hand was brash and loud, headstrong and stubborn. After all, I was still young and childish in my ways.  
  
I had done quite a few jobs before this one even though I had only been there about a week and I wasn't sure why Lord Koenma was so eager to explain a new mission right away to us. It was always the same thing; a tragic death, a misguided soul in search of guidance and my sensei and I would always take them over into the next realm. In other words: boring, boring and more boring. So I wasn't surprised with myself when I let out an aggravated sigh aloud. My sensei looked over at me with silent amusement and arched an eyebrow gracefully.  
  
"Is there something that displeases you, Botan?" she asked with her soft voice.  
  
"Yes, actually," I said quite agitatedly. "it's far too early to be up and about. Lord Koenma can't possibly have a mission so important that we have to get up right away and hear about it. This is just stupid."  
  
Furrowing her brow Asami spoke, "Have you ever heard the saying 'The early bird gets the worm'?"  
  
"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'The second mouse gets the cheese'?" I retorted in an almost rude manner.  
  
Despite my mouthy comment my sensei simply laughed and smiled at me. She was too good mannered, I just wished that one time she would lose her cool, get upset or show something besides happiness in those big amber orbs. I know now that's a horrible thing to wish upon a person, but never in my life then had I ever met someone who was so unconditionally happy. I was envious of her grace and demeanor.  
  
"Touché, Botan. You are absolutely correct. However, we must serve Lord Koenma to the best of our abilities and losing a bit of sleep won't hurt us."  
  
"Of course, sensei." I agreed grudgingly.  
  
When we entered Koenma's office I was surprised to find George and many other of Koenma's underlings running around in panics, many with books and reports, several watching screens and talking on the phone. Everything was so chaotic; I cannot remember ever seeing things in such disarray around here. And when I looked to Koenma I was even more shocked to see that in the place of our child emperor was now a handsome young man instead, watching a small tv screen on his desk with rapt attention looking terribly troubled.  
  
"Lord Koenma," Asami said urgently, bowing deeply before him. "We're here for our briefing."  
  
I gave a sort of bow at him and continued to let my eyes wander around the busy office, a weight growing in my chest. What was going on here? Lord Koenma got to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair with a deep sigh.  
  
"Thank goodness," he said with a sigh. "Please follow me Asami, Botan."  
  
He stepped from behind his desk and led us into a side room. He opened the door for us and let us enter the room first. Before he came in he addressed George,  
  
"Ogre, you're in charge for the moment while I brief the guides. If you get any more news from them, let me know at once." He said quietly.  
  
"Of course, Koenma sir." George said before quickly running off.  
  
I got more anxious by the second as I stood quietly beside my sensei's chair. I hadn't ever seen this side of Koenma before and there was never this much activity going on in his office either. Even my sensei seemed to be bothered by it and her usual smile was a look of indifference at the moment. Koenma shut the door behind him and had a seat across from my sensei, folding his hands before him on top of a large tan folder.  
  
"As you may have noticed, Asami-san, we're going through a small problem right now."  
  
"It would appear so." Responded my sensei curtly.  
  
"It seems that the demon, human and spirit worlds are all under a very grave threat now." He said and pushed the folder towards my sensei across the table. "Early this morning we received a video message from a duo of demons in the Makai. If you open your folder you'll find their criminal profiles on top."  
  
My sensei did so and pulled out the first two pages. Unable to help myself I read over her shoulder quietly and studied the pictures attached with them. Apparently, according to their profiles, they were shape-shifters from the eastern realm of the Makai with an outrageous bounty on their heads. Briefly scanning the statistics I knew this wasn't going to be the same 'boring, boring' mission it always was. And boy was I ever right.  
  
"According to the video sent to us, they've been able to tear rips in the dimensional fields separating our realms and their plan is to merge all four dimensions together-"  
  
"Wait, what do you mean four dimensions? I thought there was only three." I cut in, receiving a disapproving look from my sensei and look of surprise from Lord Koenma.  
  
"While most think so, that's not the case," Koenma explained regaining his composure. "There are indeed four; the human realm, the realm of the demons, the realm of the spirits and the realm of the dead. The realm of the dead was once a part of the spirit realm, but years and years ago the spirit realm became divided."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why? Well-the spirits, not all of them were cooperating and worthy of a peaceful spirit life so..they were cast from the spirit realm into the realm of the dead, also known as the realm of the damned. It's like the human's idea of Hell for spirits."  
  
"Well that doesn't sound too cozy." I muttered.  
  
"And it's not." Koenma went on. "These two, Yumi and Ruka, have already been able to gain more than half of the dead realm as allies since they've offered them freedom from their realm. Their plans are to completely wipe out the human populace and let the demons reclaim it as their own so they've also won a lot of support from the demon population."  
  
Now Koenma was up and pacing back and forth in front of the table a look of unpleasant thought on his face. I was beginning to panic myself. Half the population of a fourth realm and the backing of many demons as well? How were we supposed to stop this? My sensei's face was void of emotion as she sifted through the files given to her, studying each one carefully and slowly. I was dying to speak up again and as what exactly it was that we were needed to do, but refrained; I had already spoken out enough today.  
  
With a deep sigh my sensei set the papers down, "Lord Koenma, sir," she began exhaustedly. "This is serious. If they are able to merge the worlds, it'll be near impossible to fix and the order will take years to restore. I'm not sure-"  
  
"Bottom line, Koenma, what do we need to do?" I burst in, finally unable to help myself.  
  
Both of their eyes swiveled to me and stared for a moment before Koenma finally stopped pacing and retook his seat slowly. My sensei's eyes lingered on me for a moment longer before looking back at Koenma expectantly. I'd probably be reprimanded later for my outburst, but I just couldn't stand the wait. Something needed to be done fast and apparently Lord Koenma had something in mind for us, or else he wouldn't have called us down here, so I was determined to find out what it was.  
  
"Well, we've been prepared for something like this for a while now and we'll need you help to execute this." He began slowly, making eye contact with each of us briefly. "The first time there was an accidental tear in the dimensions we created a jewel that had the abilities to seal it easily. But, of course, there was a drawback; when in the wrong hands the crystal also had the ability to merge and tear all four dimensions. So to keep it safe we shattered the jewel into four pieces and planted them into the bodies of others."  
  
"When the jewel carriers would die they would always be reborn with the jewels inside them, however, as they died and were reborn and the worlds stayed in harmony we lost track of where the jewel carriers were located. Yumi and Ruka know about the jewels and have set out to find them and if they do we can say good-bye to the world as we know it. I need you two to help us find the jewel carriers and bring them together before Yumi and Ruka do."  
  
Koenma reached under the table and brought up two small compacts. They appeared to be made of crystal with the single kanji character 'chikara' ('power') on it's front in white. He held them out to my sensei and I seriously.  
  
"Now these are special compacts we made years ago during the creation of the jewel to help us keep track of them. That symbol on the front is your indicator: white is nothing, yellow means it's nearby and red will show up only when this symbol is held up before a person with a jewel shard in them. This is all we have for now along with a few possible suspects as to who has the jewels. All of it is in your folder there."  
  
After that was said and done my sensei got to her feet and bowed graciously to Lord Koenma and gave a soft smile. I gave a semi bow and moved aside for my sensei to get past.  
  
"Thank you very much, Lord Koenma, sir." Asami said gratefully. "We will get on this right away."  
  
"No, thank you, Asami-san." Koenma said, standing briefly to return the bow to my sensei.  
  
She nodded and headed out of the room and I followed obediently. My mind was whirling: a fourth dimension, a secret jewel with the ability to control all the dimensions? This was getting weird, but I guess I didn't really have a choice as to whether or not I was going to help.  
  
As we left Koenma's office my sensei turned to me with a true frown and sad eyes.  
  
"This won't be easy, Botan." She said softly. "I hope you are ready for this task, I would grieve very much if I lost such a fine apprentice."  
  
Now that I had seen something besides happiness in my sensei's face I mourned having ever wished something else upon it. It was truly a saddening sight to see her upset like that.  
  
"I am ready, sensei." I said sounding much more confident than I felt.  
  
She nodded, "We must leave for the ningenkai immediately. Retrieve you oar and meet me in the lobby."  
  
Bowing just slightly she turned on her heels and walked away gracefully. I watched her go and squeezed the trinket in my hand lightly, feeling the cool crystal against my palm. This was serious, much too serious for a new spirit guide like me to help with. Now I knew we must really be in trouble if they were even having the apprentice participate. Swallowing the lump in my throat I sped off to get my oar. For once in my life I had found something that truly mattered to me, I couldn't let my sensei down no matter what the cost.  
  
*  
  
I didn't even fully realize the damage that could have been done then, but was still frightened. In all my life I had never had a responsibility like that and I knew I needed to do as much as I could. Everything was at stake and oddly enough I suddenly cared. And thankfully I did or else I may have missed out on the most amazing, and death defying, part of my life and after life..  
  
To be continued..  
  
*  
  
Author's Note: I hope that didn't suck too badly! The next chapter will be longer so I'll try and work on it as much as I can with school going on and stuff. Please leave me a review and I'll write fast! Thanks! - Ari 


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